Colorado court to hear appeal from Death Row inmate

The Colorado Court of Appeals is set to hear an appeal Tuesday by one of three men on the state’s Death Row.

Twenty-eight year-old Robert Ray is not challenging the conviction for which he was sentenced to death in 2009. He seeks a new trial in an earlier conviction, attempted murder for shooting Javad Marshall-Fields and another man at an Aurora park in 2004.

Ray was later convicted of ordering the killing of Marshall-Fields as he prepared to testify against Ray in the park shootings. Prosecutors cited the park shooting convictions as reasons why Ray should be sentenced to death.

The appeals court will consider whether procedural problems mean Ray should get a new trial on those attempted murder charges.

Marshall-Fields was the son of state Rep. Rhonda Fields.